This caricature traces back to second-wave feminism of the 1960s and 1970s, when the women’s liberation movement encouraged women to abandon oppressive beauty standards. Many lesbian feminists of that era did stop shaving their legs, underarms, and pubic hair as a political statement. To them, removing hair was a ritual of patriarchal control, a way to keep women spending time and money on appearance rather than on power.
Body hair choices frequently impact how people present themselves in LGBTQ+ relationships.
Yet many say the benefits outweigh the costs. The freedom from endless grooming, the extra time in the morning, the money saved on razors and waxing — and most of all, the sense of owning one’s body completely. As one hairy lesbian put it: “If my hair scares someone away, they weren’t worth my time anyway.”